Alan Sullivan

“ A mistress of men, she receives their endless offerings of life and strength brought from the ends of the earth, and, as' fancy takes her, repays either with treasure or pain and a long forgetfulness. But, payment or no payment, always that stream of offerings continues.
Thus it was that Big John, who feared nothing, but loved much, found on the banks of a nameless creek a patch of gravel shot through with coarse yellow dust. It was black sand that ran two ounces to the pan. ”

“ Ragged Creek yielded stuff that ran two ounces to the pan, but that did not move him: and when more gold was found further on, Big John put a new roof on his shack, and stuck tighter than ever.
At the end of the first month he had earned six hundred dollars by packing loads across the portage. Like the Mormons who settled on the overland trail to California, he took tribute from the stream of treasure-seekers, who cared not what it cost to save an hour. Every foot of that rugged mile was imprinted on his brain. ”

“ When Eden came along, there was only an inch deep of sand showing in one place, and now there's two feet of it—lousy with gold."
Big John looked about. The place was alive with men, working desperately against the advance of winter. Washing had stopped, but piles of the precious stuff were accumulating at the mouths of a dozen pits. There was a whining of windlasses and muffled shouts from invisible diggers. A thousand a day for five months meant a hundred and fifty thousand a year. He had bought this for her with the sweat of the trail, but what was left that he could do now? ”

“ Something of his meaning drifted into the dulled ears of the little man in the bunk, and he began to murmur in his weakness of phantom friends and gold on Ragged Creek. Hundreds of friends, thousands of ounces of gold—the voice lifted shrilly, boasting that he had them all. John strode over and looked down at him. Then, with a certain magnificent simplicity, he looked at Mary Eden.
"You'll stay here till he's better. There's no hurry."
"We can't," she protested swiftly; "we haven't money enough." ”

“ Now, it is written that the North is like some magnificent and mysterious woman, terrible at times to those who fear her, but lavishing an opulent bounty on others who enter with courage into her baffling moods. ”

“ The little man gave vent to a strangling noise.
"Good business. We'll stay."
"We can't afford it," she said, the colour climbing to her cheek. "We've got to push on to outside."
Big John was lashing the contents of the canoe into one huge bundle. He swung this on his back, then, stooping gingerly, picked up the canoe itself as though it were a feather, and balanced it upside down like a gigantic helmet.
"Come on," he said over his shoulder, and strode down the trail.
That was the coming of Mary Eden to Black Lake portage. ”

“ Black Lake portage was now haunted. At daybreak he stuck a notice on the rough cabin wall that this was "Travellers' Rest" for those who wanted it, cut a pile of firewood, put fresh meadow hay in the bunks, loaded his own canoe, and, squatting Indian fashion in the middle, struck off down the Yukon. He did not yet know where he was going, but he would know soon.
A week later he decided that Ragged Creek was poor ground, and disappeared up country. The strength of the man, his wisdom in the wilderness, and the driving force that seemed to urge him on, made labour a thing of small account. ”

“ I always think about you as one of those—nearly the only one—who put more, far more, into the North than he has taken out. How many hundreds crossed Black Lake portage and went on happier because of you? ”

“ He looked hard into Big John's blue eyes. "Sure you don't fancy a job? The pay is most anything to the right man. Seems, now I think of it, I passed you once near Black Lake portage. There's no others of your size hereabouts. Now I've got it. Ain't you the fellow that packed six hundred for a solid mile?"
"I'd like the job if you hadn't a skunk for a partner. ”

“ A man doesn't want more than so much, and I've made that here."
She sent him a brilliant smile. "You've been carrying other people's burdens, but you couldn't have made much at what you asked from me. ”